Nine questions people ask me about ghostwriting
I have compiled the ten most common questions that potential clients and others ask me about ghostwriting. Hopefully, you will find these helpful. If you have a question that isn’t listed, let me know.
What are the advantages of using a ghostwriter (or, why should I use a ghostwriter?)?
While I have written about this elsewhere, it bears repeating: working with a ghostwriter has many advantages over writing a book alone.
When you work with a ghostwriter, expect to reap many benefits. Your book almost always:
- Is well-written and communicates your message
- Required much less time to write than if you had written it alone (think six months versus years)
- Got written in the first place, rather than remaining a bucket list item
When you engage a qualified ghostwriter, you typically double the number of people helping you to become an author. Working with a ghostwriter is the best way to get help from an expert who knows how to write a book. Plus, when you engage a ghostwriter, your chance of completing your book increases greatly.
If writing a book is an important goal in your life, consider engaging a ghostwriter so you can leverage their knowledge and writing prowess to help you reach your goal.
How long does it take to write a book with a ghostwriter versus without a ghostwriter?
Almost everyone who talks with me about writing a book asks this question.
Writing a book with a ghostwriter’s help generally cuts the time required to write a book in half, when compared to working alone. When you use a ghostwriter, your book generally requires anywhere from four to eight months to accomplish, with six months being the average. Naturally, factors like your schedule (how often you can meet with the ghostwriter), the length of your book, and any need to gather extra information or interviews can all affect your timeline.
When you write a book all on your own, how long it takes is mostly up to you. If you take five or six or eight months or even a year off work to write your book, you may be able to accomplish it within that time. But if you must find the time to write your book in between your regular life—grabbing a few moments here, a few minutes there—the time required for you to plan, write, and rewrite your book increases significantly. I have spoken to people who have spent two or three years writing a book that they likely could have written in months if they had only worked with me.
If your time is precious and you want to write your book before it’s too late, consider having a ghostwriter help you because we almost always shorten the time and effort that it takes to write your book.
What is the process when I work with a ghostwriter?
While each ghostwriter has their own processes, many commonalities exist. The following is my process. If you like what you read, feel free to inquire with me about how I can help you.
Once a client commits to work with me, we first meet to uncover their book’s topics, scope, audience, intent, theme, and other basic information. In short, we build an outline that lists the main topics and subtopics (or stories and turning points if they want to write a memoir) that they want to cover.
After we have a working outline that we both like, we set a weekly interview schedule where we work together to write their book, chapter by chapter. We generally meet weekly where I ask them questions and get them to talk through what they want to say in a particular chapter. They can also send me information to help me write and flesh out their topics and stories.
We then spend many weeks in this way to work our way through the outline as I write the first draft of their book.
After I finish a chapter’s first draft, I submit it to them for their input. They can make many or a few changes, as well as additions and deletions. When most people read the first draft of one of their chapters, they often find items they want to either clarify, add info to, or change.
After we take each chapter through two such reviews—two drafts—and we finish addressing all of the topics in the outline, we both take a good, last look at their book and decide if we want to add any more content. At this point, if they have asked someone to write their foreword, which is common, I either interview that person or at the very least review the foreword they wrote and make sure it meets the standard of the rest of their book.
Once we’re done with the book and I’ve performed a final copy edit, it’s time to look at publishing options.
My clients can either self-publish or publish traditionally. Most opt to self-publish, and at this point I help introduce them to a reputable self-publishing company or they undertake to self-publish their own book (i.e., by using Amazon KDP or some other DIY service).
If they want to publish traditionally, I will help them engage with an agent, and if they are writing the kind of nonfiction book where a book proposal is required by agents and potential publishers, I may help them write that proposal, though this process often begins before we actually finish writing their book. (I explain the rather complex traditional publishing process more in another blog post.)
Again, throughout the book-writing journey, I try to keep my process as simple and transparent as possible, and my aim is to help my client write the best book they can, one that matches up to the book they have imagined.
How much work do I have to do when I work with a ghostwriter?
Because some people mistakenly think that hiring a ghostwriter absolves them of any effort in writing their book, I want to address this question.
While working with a ghostwriter will definitely shorten the book-writing process and decrease the amount of work you have to do to pen your book, it will not eliminate the very vital part you have to play in writing your book.
As your ghostwriter, I will shoulder the bulk of the work and heavy lifting that writing a book requires, but I will still need you to spend a little of your time on your book. For starters, I will need to interview you to uncover what you want to write about and to add details to the topics you have chosen to cover.
From a practical perspective, this means you will need to talk to me for an hour or two each week as I interview you. You also need to spend some time thinking about what you want to write and what we have written together.
Additionally, when you work with me, you will need to expend a little effort—not a lot, but a little—to review what I’ve put together. You will also likely make some notes or additions or changes to what I’ve written.
Compared to the time I will spend on your book, your time investment is much, much less. But you still have an investment to make. This is a good thing, however, because when you spend time working on your book, you are rewarded with a feeling of ownership and accomplishment that can come in no other way. At the same time, you will have written a book without the rather large investment in time and energy that I will have made.
What is traditional publishing and what is self-publishing, and which should I pursue?
A ton has been written about publishing, especially the various types and advantages of each, so I will try to keep this brief.
Traditional publishing happens when you write a book that a traditional publisher, like Simon and Schuster, picks up and publishes. When a traditional publisher publishes your book, they front all of the costs to print and distribute (and market, though that is getting rarer I hear) your book. Because of this, they exercise some control over your book: its title, contents, and how it was written. If you want to write a bestseller that puts your name on the map and actually makes you millions, then traditional publishing can do that, though writing a bestseller is relatively rare, especially for first-time authors.
Self-publishing happens when you are the one responsible to print and distribute your book, whether you do everything yourself or hire a company to do it for you. Either way, you front the costs, but you also retain almost total control. Self-published books have a harder time getting placed in bookstores and thus have a harder time getting sold (and becoming bestsellers), but it can happen. People usually choose to self-publish for several reasons. First, self-publishing your book takes a fraction of the time typically required to find an agent, find a publisher, and then have them revise, publish, and finally distribute your book. Self-publishing is also simpler and is a great option for authors writing a book meant only for family and close friends. Others opt to self-publish because they feel that they can do as good a job, or better, promoting their book than a traditional publisher could (if they have a large social network platform, for instance that they can use to promote their book). Paid speakers and other influencers often opt to self-publish because they don’t need to write a bestseller and because they also need to get their book out there as quickly as possible. And last, but not least, self-publishing gives you greater control over your book’s content, look, title.
So, which option should you choose? The answer all depends on your goals, means, platform, and story. Again, if speed, control, and simplicity of process are key to you, then you should opt to self-publish. In other words, if you just need a printed book that you can list on your website and/or sell at the back of the room where you’re speaking, then you should self-publish. And if you don’t think that your book or story would be picked up by a traditional publisher, self-publishing may be for you. However, if you are famous, have a large social media following, or your story garnered a lot of media coverage, traditional publishers may feel that your book is an acceptable risk and agree to publish you. Similarly, if you are the pre-eminent expert in your field but have yet to put out a book, you too might find a path to publishing via the traditional publishing route.
In the end, which publishing option you choose depends on your goals, your timeline, and the perceived marketability of your story or information.
When I write my memoir, what topics should I write about? In other words, what should I share, and what should I keep private?
Whenever someone writes their memoir, autobiography, or life story, they must decide what to share, and what to keep private.
My short answer is that you should always share your most interesting events, details, and struggles. And if sharing an incident or story will cause pain to no one but yourself, then share it, because it almost always makes for good reading. But if sharing a story, incident, or detail will cause someone you love to feel pain, then you may need to reconsider, or at the very least, ask their permission.
The point is, the more you share about what went wrong, what you did wrong, or the terrible things that happened to you, the more your readers will relate to you, and the better your memoir will be. And the less you share about what really happened by glossing over uncomfortable moments and painting your life as smooth and trouble-free, the less interesting your memoir will be.
If you worry that someone may sue you for sharing a story, then consider changing the names and enough of the details (like places and times, etc.) to protect their identity but still tell a powerful story. Regardless, don’t write a dull memoir that lets no one in. What would be the point of that?
Now, some people are only too happy to share everything, every detail and every incident, no matter how minor. To them, I say share mostly the key moments, those that served as turning points or that caused a new chapter in your life to open. We don’t need to know what you have for breakfast unless a particular breakfast was poisoned and almost killed you; then we’ll want to know.
Will my book still be my book when I work with a ghostwriter?
Many who consider hiring a ghostwriter ask this same question, and for good reason. Why? Because too many think that a ghostwriter’s job is solely to write your book for hire, with little to no input from you. This is not the case with professional, high-quality ghostwriters like myself. Instead, when you engage my services, I strive to uncover what you want to write about and then help get that information into print. Whether you are writing a memoir or a book about a subject you’re passionate about, my job is to help you put the information that is already in your mind onto paper, in a readable, compelling narrative.
Every book I have helped my clients to write has been theirs and theirs alone. As I look back over the many books I’ve helped write, I relied on my clients’ stories, wisdom, knowledge, and perspective to craft their book. Your book will be the same: yours.
Will my book sound like me if I work with a ghostwriter?
This relates closely to the last question, and I get asked both of them often.
If you hire a ghostwriter whose process includes talking to you and listening to your voice, the chances are good that the book you produce together will have your wording, your idiomatic phrasing, and of course, your thoughts and ideas.
Ideally, when you work with a ghostwriter who listens to the way you talk as well as to what you say, what results will sound like you. A wise ghostwriter will preserve any particularities in the way you talk—and write—and will incorporate them into your book. Plus, as you review the written drafts, you can make any needed changes to the text to make it sound more like you by either adding or removing certain words or phrases. No one knows you better than you, so having you review your manuscript is essential to producing a book that sounds like something you wrote.
I incorporate all of the above tips and techniques into my process so that the books I produce sound like their author, not me.
What will writing a book do for me, for my family?
This question applies mostly to memoirs and life stories, since those books often include details and stories about the author’s family and close friends.
When you finally tell your story, you do a great service to those who come after you, usually children and grandchildren—but also friends and associates.
Rather than wonder if the problem they are experiencing has ever been faced by someone in your day, they will know that yes, you too struggled with being shy, or taking risks, or saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, or whatever issue they’re facing.
Let your life lessons, including those you gained through trial and error, lift those who come after you so that they can live a better, less error-prone life than you did.
Writing your memoir or life story can also get your family to open up about other subjects, stories, and secrets that have been buried for too long. Again, when people uncover buried skeletons, good things often follow. The truth is going to come out someday; it may as well be you who tells it.